The present invention relates to the field of lighting and, in particular, to a light apparatus having a light control, and method for tracking the usage of a light and providing information relating to such use.
The assignee of the present invention manufactures and sells vision enhancement systems falling within the scope of U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,392, which is incorporated herein by reference. These systems generally include an illuminator made up of a housing and a plurality of illuminator elements disposed within the housing. These illuminator elements are a light source, a first polarizer, a lens, an aperture, an optical filter, a viewing means, and a headgear system, which allows the illuminator to be worn on the head of a user. The viewing means includes a second polarizer having a second plane of polarization, which is rotationally positionable with respect to the first polarizer such that their respective planes of polarization may be aligned in either a parallel or orthogonal relationship.
The systems described above are typically used by dermatologists, aesthetic laser surgeons and phlebologists during examinations and procedures performed on patients and has become an essential instrument for the practice of many of these professionals. As this is the case, the failure of these systems can prevent these professionals from performing their duties, resulting in significant inconvenience for patients and significant loss of revenue for the professional.
Given the problems caused by system failures and fact that the most common component to fail is the bulb, one apparent solution would be for the professional to keep a spare bulb on-hand in the event that the bulb unexpectedly fails. However, in order to meet space and weight requirements in these systems, the illuminators include a bulb assembly that has an integral microcontroller and fan unit. Accordingly, the bulb itself is not separately replaceable and the entire illuminator must be replaced when the bulb fails. Given the relatively high cost of illuminators, keeping a spare is an unattractive option to most professionals. Thus, there is a need for a way to alert users of the system when a bulb failure is imminent, so that the user may order a new illuminator for delivery just before the time when the bulb fails.
The relatively high cost of illuminators has also lead to warranty concerns on the part of the manufacturer. The life of a bulb is directly related to a number of factors, including the temperature of the bulb, the thermal and electrical transients produced at startup, the amount of power supplied to the bulb, physical abuse, etc. However, the primary factor in the life of a bulb is the number of hours of bulb use. Typically, the manufacturer of these systems knows this expected life of the bulb, but has no way of knowing the level of actual usage made of the bulb. Therefore, the manufacturer either had to place an arbitrary time frame upon the warranty period, i.e. six months, one year, etc., or had to rely upon the recollection, and honesty, of the professionals with respect to the actual use of the lamps. Thus, there is also a need for the manufacturer to effectively determine how many hours that a bulb has been used once it has been submitted to the manufacturer for warranty replacement.
Finally, although the life of a bulb is primarily dependent upon the number of hours used, as noted above, the temperature of the bulb, transients produced at startup, and overall power to the bulb also contribute to this life. Therefore, there is a need to control these factors in order to insure that the bulb will not prematurely fail due to overheating, to protect the bulb from power and thermal transients during startup, and to reduce the overall power to the bulb when the bulb is nearing the end of its useful life.
A number of United States Patents have issued addressing one or more of these issues. However, none are adapted to effectively solve the problems addressed by the present invention. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,632 discloses a battery life indicator for a flashlight. The preferred indicator is a series of three LED""s that receive signals from a life measurement circuit and indicate a corresponding level of battery charge. Although the user of this apparatus is appraised of when a battery failure is imminent, it does not keep track of the length of use. Accordingly, its function is analogous to a fuel gauge in an automobile, while the present need is for something analogous to an odometer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,462 discloses a light unit having a thermal fuse. Once the maximum temperature of the light is exceeded, the fuse is triggered and the circuit is broken, effectively ceasing the flow of power to the light. Such a system is effective as a safety device, to prevent an overheated light from causing a fire. However, it is not adapted to the present invention as the thermal fuse will have the same effect as a burned bulb; i.e. will cause the illuminator to cease working and require replacement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,678 discloses a light socket that utilizes a thermistor as a means for effecting a xe2x80x9csoft-startxe2x80x9d. Here the thermistor is a negative temperature coefficient type connected in series with rectifier. The thermistor preferably has an R value at 250 degree C. of between 10 and 100 ohms, while its R at 75 degrees C. is considerably less. The thermistor has a preferred power dissipation of under two watts and a soft glow time from zero to maximum brightness of 1-3 seconds. The presence of a thermistor is said to help to extend a bulb""s life and is particularly desirable if the light bulb with which the socket adapter is used is turned on-and-off somewhat frequently as it affects the stress the bulb encounters when the initial rush of current occurs. Although this device is helpful at solving the problem of thermal transients at power-up, it is not readily adapted to provide protection against overheating during operation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,684,366, 5,683,246, 5,267,857, 4,929,872, 4,360,743, 4,238,709, 4,037,135, 4,008,416, 3,963,956, and 3,952,242, each describe lamps, or other devices, utilizing a soft-start feature that reduces electrical and thermal transients by slowly powering-up the device. Although each of these devices is helpful at solving the problem of thermal and electrical transients at power-up, none are readily adapted to provide protection against overheating during operation and none are adapted to reduce the final intensity of power to the device when it is nearing the end of its useful life. Therefore, there is a need for a lamp having a means for continuous accumulating total run time, means for using this information for displaying lamp life information to the user, means for temporarily removing power from the bulb when the lamp is overheated, means for lowering lamp intensity once it has reached a certain number of hours of use, and a xe2x80x9csoft startxe2x80x9d feature for reducing thermal and electrical transients during start-up.
The present invention is a lighting apparatus and lighting method that overcome the drawbacks of current systems. In its most basic form, the lighting apparatus of the present invention includes a light source, counting means for counting an actual amount of time that the light source has been used, and recording means in communication with the counting means for recording the actual amount of time that the light source has been used.
In the preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a microcontroller that includes a microprocessor, a computer memory and input/output ports. A counting program is programmed into the microprocessor of the microcontroller to serve as the counting means, while the computer memory acts as the recording means. The preferred microcontroller is also programmed to compare the actual amount of time that the light source has been used with a predetermined amount of time.
The preferred apparatus also includes a display, which in communication with the microcontroller and is adapted to display the actual amount of time that the light source has been used. The preferred display is a series of three indicator lights that correspond to a number of hundreds of hours, a number of tens of hours and a number of single hours. These indicator lights receive corresponding signals from the microcontroller and are illuminated once for each signal to indicate the number of hours that the apparatus has been used. In some embodiments, however, the display is at least one indicator light that receives a number of signals from the microcontroller corresponding to a number of hours that the light source has been and is illuminated upon receipt of each of the signals. In still other embodiments, at least one indicator light is illuminated when the microcontroller sends a signal indicating that the amount of time exceeds the predetermined amount of time.
The preferred apparatus also includes a light source control for controlling a supply of power to the light source and a temperature measurement device for measuring a temperature of the apparatus. The temperature measurement device is in electrical communication with the light source control, which is adapted to control a supply of power to the light source based upon the temperature of the apparatus. It is preferred that the light source control be a light source control program within the microcontroller, which is adapted to stop a supply of power to the light source when the temperature exceeds a predetermined temperature and start a supply of power to the light source after the apparatus is stopped and restarted. In some embodiments, the temperature measurement device is omitted and the light source control controls the power to the light source based upon the information received from the microcontroller. In some such embodiments, the microcontroller is further programmed to compare the actual amount of time that the light source has been used with a useful life of the light source and to send a signal to the light source control to supply a reduced amount of power to the light source when the actual amount of time exceeds the useful life of the light source. In other embodiments, the microcontroller is programmed to compare the actual amount of time that the light source has been used with a predetermined amount of time and to send a signal to the light source control to oscillate the power to the light once the actual amount of time exceeds the predetermined amount of time. In still other embodiments, the microcontroller is programmed to compare the actual amount of time that the light source has been used with a purchased life of the apparatus and to send a signal to the light source control to prevent a flow of power to the light source when the actual amount of time exceeds the a purchased life of the apparatus.
In its most basic form, the lighting method includes the steps of supplying power to the light source, counting an actual amount of time that the power has been supplied to the light source, and recording the actual amount of time that power has been supplied to the light source.
The preferred method also includes the steps of displaying the actual amount of time that the power has been supplied to the light source, comparing the actual amount of time that the power has been supplied to the light source with a predetermined amount of time, and providing an alert when the actual amount of time that the power has been supplied to the light source exceeds the predetermined amount of time.
It is also preferred that the method include the steps of controlling the supply of power to the light source based upon a result of the comparing step. In some embodiments, the predetermined amount of time is a purchased life of the light source and the controlling step includes the step of preventing a flow of power to the light source when the actual amount of time exceeds the purchased life of the apparatus. In other embodiments, the predetermined amount of time is a useful life of the light source and the controlling step includes the step of reducing a flow of power to the light source when the actual amount of time exceeds the a useful life of the apparatus.
Finally, the preferred method includes the steps of measuring a temperature of the apparatus and controlling the supply of power to the light source based upon a result of the measuring step.
Therefore, it is an aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that continuously accumulate the total run time of the light source.
It is a further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that display lamp life information to the user.
It is a further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that temporarily remove power from the light source when the lamp is overheated.
It is a further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that lower lamp intensity once the lamp has reached a certain number of hours of use.
It is a further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that include a xe2x80x9csoft startxe2x80x9d feature for reducing thermal and electrical stresses during start-up.
It is a further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that allow a user to purchase a certain number of hours of use and will prevent power from being sent to the light source once that number of hours has elapsed.
It is a further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that oscillate the power to the light source once the actual amount of time exceeds the predetermined amount of time in order to alert the user to an impending failure of the light source.
It is a still further aspect of the invention to provide a light apparatus and method that illuminates an indicator light once it has reached a certain number of hours of use.
These aspects of the invention are not meant to be exclusive and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art when read in conjunction with the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings.